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Simoa Technology Highlighted in a Nature Publication for Effectively Measuring Brain Biomarkers in Blood for Traumatic Brain Injury
[October 15, 2014]

Simoa Technology Highlighted in a Nature Publication for Effectively Measuring Brain Biomarkers in Blood for Traumatic Brain Injury


LEXINGTON, Mass. --(Business Wire)--

Quanterix Corporation, a leader in high definition diagnostics, delivering ultrasensitive single molecule measurement for the benefit of human health, today announced that a new study highlighting the use of Simoa technology to measure amyloid beta in blood has been published in Scientific Reports, a publication of the Nature Publishing Group. The study, authored by Dr. Stefania Mondello from the University of Messina in Italy, showed that measurements of amyloid beta 1-42 (Aß42), a brain protein thought to be a possible marker for brain injury, did in fact correlate with mortality when measured in plasma by Simoa.

Currently, diagnosing a brain injury is a combination of both subjective cognitive assessments and expensive imaging techniques, but no simple blood test exists. The importance of traumatic brain injury diagnosis has recently been recognized by the National Football League (NFL), who found that concussions experienced by its players may cause brain injury with long term health impacts. Other groups representing athletes across a range of sports and levels have also become increasingly concerned, as has themilitary for soldiers exposed to detonations of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other head injuries.



"The study is particularly important because it shows that Aß42 measurements made in blood were clinically relevant to the outcome of the patients," said Dr. Andreas Jeromin, one of the study's co-authors. "Previously, Aß42 could only be measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) because its concentration in blood is far lower than any existing technology could measure. However, obtaining CSF is very difficult, so being able to measure this marker in the blood is a remarkable step forward."

"This study is another great example of how Simoa's capability to measure proteins with single molecule sensitivity has the potential to transform diagnostics for a wide range of human conditions," said Kevin Hrusovsky, Executive Chairman at Quanterix. "Researchers around the world are using Simoa to find ways to diagnose cancer earlier, detect infectious diseases more rapidly and accurately, screen for risks of cardiovascular problems, study and diagnose neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, and explore a wide range of biomarkers impacting human health."


Access to the full study can be found here:
http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/141010/srep06446/full/srep06446.html.

About Quanterix

Quanterix is a developer of ground-breaking tools in high definition diagnostics. Its Simoa platform uses single molecule measurements to access previously undetectable proteins. With this unprecedented sensitivity and full automation, Simoa offers significant benefits to both research and clinical testing applications. Quanterix was established in 2007 and is located in Lexington, Massachusetts. To learn more about Quanterix and Simoa, please visit: www.quanterix.com.

1 Leporet. al., British Journal of Urology, October 2011
2 Song et. al., Journal of Immunological Methods, September 2011
3 Zetterberg et. al., PLoS ONE, December 2011


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